Reporting and learning from patient safety incidents in general practice: a practical guide. Royal College of General Practitioners.

The purpose of this guide is to: • maximise opportunities to learn from patient safety incidents in your practice, and to share learning via organisational or national reporting systems; and, • outline a process for learning from patient safety incidents in your practice

Reporting and learning from patient safety incidents in general practice: a practical guide. Royal College of General Practitioners.

The purpose of this guide is to: • maximise opportunities to learn from patient safety incidents in your practice, and to share learning via organisational or national reporting systems; and, • outline a process for learning from patient safety incidents in your practice

Health inequalities, physician citizens and professional medical associations: an Australian case study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As socioeconomic health inequalities persist and widen, the health effects of adversity are a constant presence in the daily work of physicians. Gruen and colleagues suggest that, in responding to important population health issues such as this, defining those areas of professional obligation in contrast to professional aspiration should be on the basis of evidence and feasibility. Drawing this line between obligation and aspiration is a part of the work of professional medical colleges and associations, and in doing so they must respond to members as well as a range of other interest groups. Our aim was to explore the usefulness of Gruen's model of physician responsibility in defining how professional medical colleges and associations should lead the profession in responding to socioeconomic health inequalities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We report a case study of how the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is responding to the issue of health inequalities through its work. We undertook a consultation (80 interviews with stakeholders internal and external to the College and two focus groups with general practitioners) and program and policy review of core programs of College interest and responsibility: general practitioner training and setting of practice standards, as well as its work in public advocacy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Some strategies within each of these College program areas were seen as legitimate professional obligations in responding to socioeconomic health inequality. However, other strategies, while potentially professional obligations within Gruen's model, were nevertheless contested. The key difference between these lay in different moral orientations. Actions where agreement existed were based on an ethos of care and compassion. Actions that were contested were based on an ethos of justice and human rights.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Colleges and professional medical associations have a role in explicitly leading a debate about values, engaging both external stakeholder and practicing member constituencies. This is an important and necessary step in defining an agreed role for the profession in addressing health inequalities.</p

Introducing quality improvement teaching into general practice undergraduate placements

Quality Improvement skills are deemed essential for future clinical practice of doctors by professional regulatory bodies. This paper presents the challenges of a curriculum development initiative to ensure that all medical students have involvement with a quality improvement project during a general practice placement in their fourth year. The curriculum development is described within a 'Plan-Do-Study-Act' framework. The learning is presented as a reflective discussion with conclusions and recommendations on how potential current barriers to implementing authentic participation in quality improvement projects for undergraduate medical students might be met. The key barriers include lack of opportunities within the curriculum structure to allow sufficient time for authentic quality improvement projects and a lack of confidence amongst placement tutors to support medical students with quality improvement projects

The treatment of acute bronchitis by general practitioners in the UK - Results of a cross sectional postal survey

Copyright © 2002 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.The treatment of acute bronchitis by general practitioners in the UK. Results of a cross sectional postal survey.Nigel P Stocks, Tom Fahe

Building research capacity: An exploratory model of GPs' training needs and barriers to research involvement

Copyright © 2003 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.AIMS: To determine general practitioners' research training needs, and the barriers to involvement in research. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with 11 GPs in rural and metropolitan South Australia, analysed using a grounded theory approach. RESULTS: General practitioners' perceptions about their research needs were limited by their own experience and focussed at an individual level. Overlapping needs and barriers emerged, categorised as: 'individual issues' (a lack of research training or experience, concepts and attitudes to research, and research interest) and 'systems issues' (funding arrangements for general practice, access to resources, opportunity for publication and the role of The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners [RACGP]). DISCUSSION: Our data provide an exploratory model that may assist in developing suitable strategies for research capacity building programs. General practitioners perceived both individual and systems solutions to building research capacity, including multifaceted interventions.A. Jones, T.A. Burgess , E.A. Farmer, J. Fuller, N.P. Stocks, J.E. Taylor and R.L. Water

Management of epilepsy

Figures for the incidence of epilepsy in Malta are not available. The overall figure for epilepsy given by the Royal College of General Practitioners (Reid 1960) is 4.82 per 1,000 population. As there is no reason to expect and difference in the incidence in these Islands, one can expect that there are at least 1,500 epileptics in Malta. This would mean that all general practitioners would, at some time, come across a patient with epilepsy.peer-reviewe

Improving the learning needs survey by using four approaches

Copyright © 2005 Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND: Learning needs analyses are often undertaken to plan continuing education programs. They usually use questionnaires that have shortcomings regarding validity, relevance, breadth and detail. We tested a questionnaire using four questioning strategies to approximately 1762 general practitioners. METHOD: Our questionnaire listing 104 topics asked open ended questions and specific information about desired topics. It was distributed by The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and divisions of general practice in South Australia and the Northern Territory. RESULTS: The survey yielded 578 responses (33%). The different survey strategies highlighted different areas of learning need. Overall, the highest ranked topics were dermatology, complementary medicine, psychiatry, and business and practice management. Participating divisions were generally satisfied with the feedback. DISCUSSIONS: Despite a poor response rate, the survey provided interesting information, and a set of broad learning topics.J.A. Allan, D. Schaefer and N. Stock